Catholic priest sentenced to 6 months in prison for blocking Planned Parenthood entrance
A Catholic priest and pro-life activist has been sentenced to six months in federal prison by a New York court after being found guilty of placing locks on the entrance to a Planned Parenthood abortion facility entrance.
Father Fidelis Moscinski was sentenced last week to six months by Judge Steven Tiscione for violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act, with the priest denying that his actions were wrong because he believes he was putting an end to "murder."
"My actions … were done because Planned Parenthood as an organization is in the business of killing," Moscinski reportedly told the judge in a statement provided to Catholic News Agency by the pro-life organization Red Rose Rescue.
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Moscinski's case centers around an incident on July 7, 2022, when he obstructed access to a Planned Parenthood clinic in Hempstead on Long Island. The FACE Act bars "violent, threatening, damaging, and obstructive conduct intended to injure, intimidate, or interfere with the right to seek, obtain, or provide reproductive health services."
The priest was convicted in January.
In his statement to the judge asking for leniency, Moscinski highlighted his belief that "every procured abortion that occurs on [Planned Parenthood's] premises constitutes the deliberate killing of an innocent human being."
"These bloody and violent acts also cause grave spiritual and psychological harm to the mother of the child. All of my actions then and now are directed solely towards preventing the murder of defenseless children and the wounding of their mothers," Moscinski said.
"I am not guilty of violating this law because this law cannot be seen as anything other than null and void since it attempts to give legal protection to actions which are intrinsically evil and unjust."
Moscinski was also sentenced last Friday by Judge Karen L. Moroney to 90 days for "obstructing government administration" and 15 days for "trespassing" for an incident at an abortion clinic in April 2021.
Fellow pro-life activist Laura Gies was sentenced by Moroney 45 days for "obstructing government administration" and 15 days for "trespassing" for her part in the 2021 incident.
The FACE Act was passed in 1994 to protect the right to access "abortion facilities, pregnancy centers, hospitals, clinics, physician's offices and other facilities including medical, surgical, counseling or referral services."
Moscinski is a member of Red Rose Rescue, a pro-life group with a mission to "peacefully talk to women scheduled for abortion, with the goal of persuading them to choose life."
Although Red Rose Rescue is aware of Moscinski's membership as a rescuer, the organization has said it didn't sanction Moscinski's actions in locking the doors to the Planned Parenthood facility.
New York Attorney General Letitia James filed a lawsuit against Red Rose Rescue last month, seeking to ban Moscinski and other members of Red Rose Rescue from being within 30 feet of any abortion clinic.
"Defendants have been arrested multiple times for their unlawful acts, but despite multiple convictions across the country and within New York State, they continue to repeat their criminal misconduct," read the lawsuit.
"Red Rose Rescue is an anti-abortion group whose members conspire to illegally trespass into private medical facilities that perform abortions and shut down or physically obstruct the provision of all reproductive health services, refusing all requests to leave by staff and law enforcement."
The lawsuit claimed that "other anti-abortion groups have distanced themselves from Red Rose Rescue and have characterized the latter's conduct as 'haranguing,' 'aggressive,' and 'intimidating.'"
"Defendants have caused and will continue to cause harm to patients and staff at reproductive health facilities throughout the state of New York, as they have vowed not to abide by the law but instead to continue to trespass at any and all private medical facilities that perform abortions," the suit continued.
Nicole Alcindor is a reporter for The Christian Post. She can be reached at: nicole.alcindor@christianpost.com.
